Week 45: 11/1 - 11/8

[Kelly]

I'm of two minds about the new challenge.... I think I like the ATY prompts better, but there's no way I'm finishing 52 books in a year, and I like to read a lot of long books that will take more than a week to finish. I also prefer how the Popsugar challenge is set up (individual threads for each topic, a place to keep a list of what we've finished, and a weekly check-in.) Gaaah!! I can't make up my mind which challenge to do. Help??

[Megan]

This is going to be a long update from me; I missed last week's check-in since I was on vacation and decided to just do one update rather than two. I ended up completing the challenge this week -- just in time for the 2019 list! 😃 I'm officially 40/40 and 10/10 for this challenge, finished the other two challenges that I was working on, and am now at 138 overall so far this year. The rest of the year will be book club picks and reading for pleasure. I plan to continue with the weekly check-ins for the rest of the year since I enjoy seeing what everyone's reading and the QotWs 😃

Finished:
*⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie, which was a BookRiot Read Harder Challenge pick (a female protagonist over 60);
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, which was my pick for the cyberpunk book prompt and the last advanced prompt I needed to complete;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ White Teeth by Zadie Smith, which I'd bought at a used book store on a prior trip and donated it to the library at the beach cottage I was staying at;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner, which I'd bought at a used book store on this trip and donated it to the library at the beach cottage I was staying at;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An Autobiography by Agatha Christie, which I used for the BookRiot Read Harder Challenge prompt "a book published posthumously" (the final prompt I needed to complete). If anyone's looking ahead to the 2019 PopSugar challenge and wants a recommendation for the posthumous publication prompt, I'd recommend this one;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline, which would work for the twin prompt if someone's still working on that one. I bought this at a used book store on this trip and donated it to the library at the beach cottage I was staying at;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, which was on the book shelves at one of the beach cottages and I could not resist picking it up! I read in a single sitting;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears, which I'd bought at a used book store on this trip and donated it to the library at the beach cottage I was staying at;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner, which I read on the plane ride home;
*⭐️⭐️⭐️ Read Herring Hunt by V.M. Burns, which I read after I got home;
* ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary, which is my pick for "your favorite prompt from 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges" and completed the basic challenge prompts! My favorite prompt from 2017 was "a book you loved as a child."

Currently Reading:
* The Great Passage by Shion Miura, which is one of my book clubs' picks for November. I should finish it up today since I only have about 30 pages left.
* A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, which is my other book club's pick for the Nov/Dec read. I just started it yesterday, so am not too far into it yet.

QotW:
This week's question is from Milena: What books have you abandoned this year, and why? Do you plan to finish them in 2019? I didn't abandon any books this year. However, if I hadn't picked Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin as the "a book that is being read by a stranger in a public place" prompt, I would've given up on it and NOT gone back to it. I found the main character increasingly frustrating and the supporting characters increasingly flat as the story progressed. It started out promising, but I got to a certain point in the story and was sorry I'd spotted this one being read in public. I did consider abandoning it and going for one of the other titles I could have used, but decided to stick with it because it was the first one I'd seen in the wild and I'd waited so darn long for it on the library hold list.

[Tracy]

Kelly wrote: "I'm of two minds about the new challenge.... I think I like the ATY prompts better, but there's no way I'm finishing 52 books in a year, and I like to read a lot of long books that will take more t..."

Theres plenty of overlap if you don't mind double dipping. ATY is formatted a little different , We have the topic threads over there just not the weekly check ins. What they do differently is have a section to discuss each separate book with others who have read/are reading it. That being said, I know Ive bitten off way more than I can chew for next year so I've decided to just do whichever prompts I do from whatever challenge they came from.

[Johanne]

My plan is to do both AtY and Popsugar and doubledip. I am going to panic halfway and then find graphic novels and picture books in order to hopefully finish. That´s how I am going to play it.

[Jen]

Johanne wrote: "My plan is to do both AtY and Popsugar and doubledip. I am going to panic halfway and then find graphic novels and picture books in order to hopefully finish. That´s how I am going to play it."

Love your plan....I may follow it.

[Kerry]

Johanne wrote: "My plan is to do both AtY and Popsugar and doubledip. I am going to panic halfway and then find graphic novels and picture books in order to hopefully finish. That´s how I am going to play it."

That is what I'm going to do Johanne. I am going to use ATY as my main one since that list was out first and I like the prompts better. I'm trying to read as many classics next year as I can fit in the prompts.

[Ellie]

I haven't completely absorbed the Popsugar list yet but on first look, there is a lot of possible overlap with AtY. I'm going to do both but I don't have any problem doubling up, it's satisfying to read a book and find it fits more than one challenge.

I'm ditching Book Riot's Read Harder next year though. This is the second year I've given up half way.

[Brittany]

Johanne wrote: "My plan is to do both AtY and Popsugar and doubledip. I am going to panic halfway and then find graphic novels and picture books in order to hopefully finish. That´s how I am going to play it."

I think I might just start on ATY now. I've finished this years PS challenge but was a little burnt out by that point (late august) to start this years ATY and I don't really want to overlap prompts to finish most of it. This was my first year doing any kind of challenge and I didn't even know about ATY until midway through the year. I think maybe by starting one now and aiming to finish that one by this time next year I can release a bit of that pressure of finishing two challenges starting at the same time.

[Nadine in NY]

Johanne wrote: "My plan is to do both AtY and Popsugar and doubledip. I am going to panic halfway and then find graphic novels and picture books in order to hopefully finish. That´s how I am going to play it."

Excellent plan! I always double up when I can - I have my nerdy spreadsheet, and titles that fill a Popsugar category are in red, and titles that fill an AtY category are in italics, and titles that fill both are (you'll never guess!) red and italics!! :-) And I always fill a few categories with graphic novels!

[Nadine in NY]

Ellie wrote: "... I'm ditching Book Riot's Read Harder next year though. This is the second year I've given up half way. ..."


yeah they're not kidding about "read harder" - I don't want to read THAT hard!!! A few years ago I tried to do all three of the challenges and it was just too much.

[Tracy]

Jen wrote: "Johanne wrote: "My plan is to do both AtY and Popsugar and doubledip. I am going to panic halfway and then find graphic novels and picture books in order to hopefully finish. That´s how I am going ..."

This sounds like my 2018 and also probably next year. Gotta do what you gotta do to make it through ladies.


As for Book Riot, this year I actually made it pretty far compared to last year ( thanks to the graphic novel and children classic prompts everyone hated). But I'm terrified to see what they have in store for next year.

[Eujean2]

The 2019 challenge list is out?
There goes my productivity for the rest of the day/week.

[Milena]

T. wrote: "This week I finished two books. On Two Feet and Wings which was an interesting look into a life very different than my own. And I finally finished Gone with the Wind, m..."

I also have only read one book I didn't like this year. I am glad I'm not the only one. I hope it's because I research the books heavily before I read them, and not because I am not discerning enough.

[Sheri]

I did all three challenges this year, but I allowed myself to double or triple dip across all three, but not within the same challenge. Not because I didn't think I could read one for each prompt, but because I wanted to finish early and have time to free read, and also I didn't want to have to read two books for some of the identical/similar prompts. Like true crime, I don't like the genre, reading one is enough.

I think I actually did manage one or two that triple counted and I patted myself on the back for them :D The one I can think of offhand is Britt Marie was here. Book involving sports for popsugar, book with a title that is a full sentence for ATY, and a book with a female protagonist over 60 for read harder.

Oh and the Gurnesey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, it worked for book with a fruit or vegetable in the title (ps), a book with a location in the title (aty) and a book publish pothshumously (rh).

[SadieReadsAgain]

Sheri wrote: "I did all three challenges this year, but I allowed myself to double or triple dip across all three, but not within the same challenge. Not because I didn't think I could read one for each prompt, ..."

Impressive work on the triples! I'm doing PS as my main and ATY with double dips as much as possible. But I am tempted by the Reading Women challenge, and I've never checked Read Harder out...!

[Sheri]

I like Read Harder because there's generally only 20 some challenges, but they're pretty focused on stretching your reading.

Whats the reading woman challenge?

[SadieReadsAgain]

Reading Women is a podcast I listen to which features books only by or about women. They have a challenge, but I've never done it. There is a group on GR for it, and it's on their website (I'd link, but I'm using the app just now). I'd really recommend the podcast!

[Cendaquenta]

Sheri, here you go: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

They just posted their 2019 prompts and they look pretty fun!

[Sheri]

I mean...four reading challenges wouldn't be too much if I cross count as much as I can, right? ... help. XD

[Tracy]

Sheri wrote: "I mean...four reading challenges wouldn't be too much if I cross count as much as I can, right? ... help. XD"

Haha Sheri, you sound like me... Just took a peek at the 2019 reading woman challenge, but I still have the 2018 one on my infinity list.

I think double dipping works :-)

[Sheri]

I mean there's a multigenerational saga on both ATY and the Reading woman...and Pachinko is written by a woman. So I mean, that's a double dip right there. And might count as multiple point of views, since it says it's covering four generations, so maybe switches POV during that. .. dangit, i convinced myself, didn't i?

[Rachel]

Another incredibly slow week!

- Finished off the last 1/3 of The Fifth Petal for my book set on or around Halloween for PopSugar
- All of What If It's Us for my book published in 2018 for ATY
- Almost 3/4 of Six of Crows for my book involving a heist for PopSugar

QOTW:
I almost never DNF a book, but there are a few that I was thinking of reading this year that I ended up switching out for something else, so I guess you can consider those abandoned. I lost interest in reading The Heart Goes Last, More Than This, Half of a Yellow Sun and The Bear and the Nightingale. I'd still like to read all of those eventually, but I'm not sure I want to prioritize them next year either.